West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
They’re headed out – maybe to return. Thanks to Judy Pickens for a Fauntleroy Creek salmon update:
The first two coho smolts have been documented leaving Fauntleroy Creek. Volunteer Steev Ward found the first in a soft trap in the lower creek, closely followed by volunteer Dennis Hinton with the second, on Friday (March 27) – the first day of annual trapping. The Fauntleroy Watershed Council has been conducting volunteer monitoring to see how many leave the creek for saltwater since 2003 and this year’s research will continue through May.
Fall is when volunteers watch for returning coho spawners; 19 were documented last year.
From the Fauntleroy Community Association:
Do you live between the Arroyos and Morgan Street? Travel through or do business in Fauntleroy? The Fauntleroy Community Association (FCA) wants to hear from you!
The FCA has prepared a new community survey seeking input to identify and rank local issues. The anonymous survey can be accessed through www.fauntleroy.net and then clicking on “FCA Survey.” The survey takes about 5 minutes, and will provide guidance to the FCA Board on where to focus their efforts during the next two years.
The results from the 2013 survey led to the FCA organizing community meetings with city officials to address crime and traffic issues. Dialogues between residents and officials were constructive and resulted in agreed-upon action plans.
Take the survey and help to shape the future of your community!
(WSB photo, taken today)
With another traffic advisory from King County Wastewater Treatment Division related to the Barton Pump Station Upgrade Project next to the Fauntleroy ferry dock, we asked for an overall update. First – the traffic advisory:
The northern ferry lane entrance and toll booth will be closed for up to two hours starting at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, March 26. The closure is necessary to allow Seattle City Light crews to remove the temporary electrical system that has served the Barton Pump Station during construction. This work is part of construction wrap up for the Barton Pump Station Upgrade. Flaggers will be on hand to keep ferry and Fauntleroy traffic moving. Please call the project hotline with any questions or concerns: 206-296-2999.
Now the overall update: County spokesperson Annie Kolb-Nelson tells WSB that “the project is very close to being done. The art work is scheduled to come in in April, and landscaping and restoration is ongoing through spring. WTD is working with Friends of Cove Park to plan a June celebration for the public. We’ll offer pump station tours, and Friends of Cove Park will host a celebratory re-opening of the beach.” Cove Park closed in June 2012, as the construction got under way.
For everyone who’s asked if any free shredding events are coming up in West Seattle – we FINALLY have word of one: 1-4 pm Sunday, April 19th, at High Point Branch Library (35th/ Raymond) – details here. Then, to recycle what you can’t put at curbside, it’s Fauntleroy Church‘s spring Recycle Roundup – 9 am-3 pm Sunday, April 26th; yes/no list here.
Meet the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s new board, finalized during Tuesday night’s annual membership meeting and Food Fest at The Hall at Fauntleroy.
Besides electing the board, renewing memberships, and enjoying tastes from local eateries, those who stopped by got to mingle and to find out about programs both private and public. Yun Pitre and Kerry Wade were there from the Department of Neighborhoods, to share information on everything the DoN can help you with:
Maria from the West Seattle and Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor), which has its latter branch right across the street from where everyone gathered last night:
And from just north of Fauntleroy, Morgan and Ellen from The Kenney (WSB sponsor)
Also spotted … leaders from the nearby Morgan Community Association, president Deb Barker and vice president Jason Wax:
But what about the “food” part of the Food Fest, you ask? See the photo gallery on the FCA Facebook page! By the way, if you live and/or work in Fauntleroy and didn’t get a chance to renew your membership at last night’s event, you can do it online.
Just in from SDOT:
Paving crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation will resurface a block of California Avenue Southwest, between Southwest Brace Point Drive and California Drive Southwest on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 24 and 25. The crews will resurface the street pavement, working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The street will be open to traffic on Tuesday, March 24, but there may be a wait of up to 15 minutes for equipment to clear the roadway. On Wednesday, March 24, the street will be closed to through traffic and pedestrians and driveways on this block will not be accessible. On-street parking will be restricted in the work area.
That block is in Fauntleroy – here’s a map.
The Fauntleroy Children’s Center, headquartered in the historic schoolhouse, is nine days away from its annual fundraiser, and hoping to get a final attendance count within a few days – so it’s circulating a reminder that tickets are available online. The dinner/auction is at 5:30 pm Saturday, March 7th, on the other side of the schoolhouse at The Hall at Fauntleroy, $65/person. The theme is “An Evening in Paris” and you can read more about it here.
(WSB photo from FCA transportation summit, November 2014)
Two months after the Fauntleroy Community Association‘s transportation summit, a promise made during the summit is about to be fulfilled: A walking tour of Fauntleroy’s traffic/safety hotspots.
That’s just part of what FCA’s board talked about at its first 2015 meeting last night.
Got a winning chili recipe? Maybe you even cooked it up for tonight’s game and won raves. The upcoming Fauntleroy Chili Cookoff could be your next playing field. Planners are looking for home-based chili chefs to compete. Meat or vegetarian, if your recipe is a winner, e-mail info@fauntleroyucc.org or call 206-938-4203 for competition details; the cookoff is 6:30-8 pm January 31st in the Fauntleroy Church Fellowship Hall. (If you’re more chili fan than chili chef, get it on your calendar now – more info here.)
Heads up for another road-work project next week. Just announced:
Starting as early as Monday, January 12, crews will replace four concrete panels in the southbound curb lane of Fauntleroy Way SW in front of the Barton Pump Station construction site. This work will occur daily from 8 am to 3:30 pm until Friday, January 16. This work is weather-dependent and may be postponed in inclement weather.
All lanes on Fauntleroy Way SW will remain open. Flaggers and a police officer will shift traffic to the east around concrete work during the day. Crews will use steel sheets to cover concrete work at night.
Traffic headed for the Fauntleroy ferry dock next door will be assisted with flaggers and a police officer, the county says. (Though these are city streets, it’s a county project because they run the pump station that’s been undergoing upgrades/expansion.)
If you use, and/or live near, the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, heads up: One week from tonight, two weeks of potentially noisy nighttime work will start at the terminal. It’s not a Washington State Ferries project; a contractor for Seattle Public Utilities will be doing cleaning work. Here’s the notice, forwarded to us by an area resident who received it this week and thought it might be of interest to people beyond the immediate neighborhood, too:
We contacted SPU for more information about this; Ingrid Goodwin confirmed that once the work starts, it’ll continue on weekend nights as well as weeknights, and she adds: “SPU’s contractor may decide to work consecutive nights or take some nights off – depending on the weather and other work conditions.” We asked if this was regular maintenance or response to some sort of problem; her reply: “This work is in response to a recent CCTV (close circuit TV) inspection performed on SPU sewer pipes that found concrete slurry partially blocking. There was an attempt to remove the slurry during normal business hours but due to the high tides, we decided to move the cleaning effort to off hours during lower tides. This will allow a broader window of opportunity for SPU’s contractor to clean, which will also reduce the number of job site setups and breakdowns needed to complete the work.” As for the source of the slurry – that’s another followup.
Cooking for a crowd today? So is that crew! 150 people had already arrived for the annual free Thanksgiving dinner at The Hall at Fauntleroy by the time we visited less than 1 hour after the doors opened at noon, and they expected to feed at least 200 before they’re done. Below, helping welcome everyone, volunteers included Wes and Ann, in the photo below with (center) David Haggerty, whose Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering gives this gift each year:
Also contributing to the holiday dinner, kids from the Fauntleroy Children’s Center, which, like The Hall, is in the historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse – they decorated placemats:
The spirit of decoration extended to executive chef Michael Chase, sporting a seasonally appropriate hat:
If you didn’t already have dinner plans, you can still get to The Hall at Fauntleroy by 3 pm; it’s at 9131 California SW. (If you don’t see this until later, the West Seattle Eagles are serving a free community feast, 2-5 pm – find details and lots more Thanksgiving-and-beyond info in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide.)
In Fauntleroy, two holiday sale/bazaar events happening now are right across the street from each other. First – it’s the second of three days for the Fauntleroy Fine Art and Holiday Gift Fair at Fauntleroy Church. Visitors were serenaded by the church’s music director Bron Edwards:
Artists whose work is being shown and sold include Bill Reiswig, who created this:
The art/gift fair at the church (9140 California SW) continues until 4 pm today, and is open again 11 am-2 pm tomorrow (Sunday). Across the street, today’s your only chance to visit the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse‘s second annual holiday/winter bazaar, with baked treats for sale right inside the front door:
The historic schoolhouse’s beautiful hall is where you’ll find most of the vendors and artists.
This event also continues until 4 pm. And while you’re there, admire the raingarden and its metal art outside, as well as the renovation work the schoolhouse (9131 California SW) has been under going.
That short clip by Elizabeth Butler shows the first two coho spawners spotted this fall at the mouth of Fauntleroy Creek south of the ferry dock, back on October 25th. That’s how the volunteer salmon-watchers’ season started; now, after more than a week without sightings, it’s ended. Here’s the wrap-up report from Judy Pickens, including the visitor count as well as the fish count:
Salmon Watch 2014 on Fauntleroy Creek closed Nov. 7, a week after volunteers documented the last of 19 coho spawners to come into the creek.
Eleven volunteers watched for nearly three weeks, recording the first fish on Oct. 25, a day ahead of the annual salmon drumming. They noted spawning behavior at two locations and saw a third pair heading upstream at dusk with enough energy that they may also have left fertilized eggs. Spawning locations will be monitored in late January/early February to see if fry emerge to start feeding in the creek.
In addition to the fish, volunteers welcomed at least 190 visitors to see the action and learn about salmon and the creek habitat.
This fall marked the 20th anniversary of coho spawners in Fauntleroy Creek. Restoration activity happened just in time for a pair of fish to come in at high tide in 1994 and spawn a few yards up the creek. Since then, the number of spawners has fluctuated wildly, from zero some years to the record-smashing 274 recorded in 2012.
Thanks to Judy and to Dennis Hinton for sharing information and photos during the watch (not to mention other times of the year, including spring, when volunteers host schoolchildren at creekside, releasing salmon fry raised by their classes).
From last night’s traffic/transportation forum organized by the Fauntleroy Community Association: Residents voiced frustration at what they saw as a history of all talk/no action, leaving them bringing up the same problems year in, year out. So here’s what was talked about, in that context:
Coho season continues on 2 local creeks:
Thanks to Josh for sharing that quick clip of one of more than 20 salmon he spotted during a visit to Longfellow Creek: “There are a ton of fish near the bonefish bridge, and we recommend people check it out!” (It’s a short distance down the trail from the Dragonfly Pavilion area just south of 26th/Yancy.)
Meantime, from Fauntleroy Creek, Judy Pickens and Dennis Hinton report more than 90 human visitors during their three-hour “open creek” sessions Saturday and Sunday afternoons. No new coho sightings over the weekend, though, so the total remains at 19. But as Judy puts it, visits are worthwhile, fish or no fish, enabling visitors “to experience spawning season very close to home and to learn a lot about salmon and habitat protection.” (Find out ways you can make a difference, here.) Volunteers will continue their watch in Fauntleroy for at least another week.
19 coho so far this week but none yet today, according to Fauntleroy Creek steward Judy Pickens, who is out today along the otherwise-private reach of the creek, talking with visitors, until 3:30 pm.
To get there, walk down the private driveway that’s off Director, off the northeast end of the creek overlook that’s across Fauntleroy Way (and up the embankment) from the ferry dock, and go around the house to find the path down to the creek. Judy was at the second footbridge when we stopped by.
3:47 PM P.S.: If you didn’t make it there today, you have another chance tomorrow, 12:30 pm-3:30 pm. More than a dozen people already had visited by the time we were there; one visitor was visiting Seattle from Boston!
Volunteers at Fauntleroy Creek have now counted 19 coho this week, and since the weather’s cleared up and there’s a chance of more fish, they invite you to come take a look this weekend. From Judy Pickens:
Salmon-watch volunteers on Fauntleroy Creek invite anyone who is interested to come down to the spawning reach on Saturday or Sunday afternoon between 12:30 and 3:30. Seeing coho spawners isn’t guaranteed but this “open creek” will be a chance to learn more about salmon and their habitat. Children are especially encouraged to come. Park on upper Fauntleroy Way SW, above the ferry terminal, and access the reach down the private driveway at 4539 SW Director Place.
Here’s a map.
(WSB photos by Torin Record-Sand)
As neighbors drummed and sang tonight in the annual gathering to welcome Fauntleroy Creek‘s coho spawners, steward Judy Pickens (above) had an update: Five seen so far. Definitely within earshot of tonight’s welcoming party!
Last year, the coho were a no-show, but the year before, it was a record run. Some of tonight’s participants at the Fauntleroy Creek overlook across from the ferry dock made decorations in honor of the salmon’s return.
Jamie Shilling led the songs and chants once again:
This time of year is one of two key peak periods of attention for Fauntleroy Creek; the other is springtime, when hundreds of schoolchildren visit to release classroom-raised salmon fry. Meantime, with Judy’s help, we’ll continue updating this year’s coho watch; you are welcome to watch down by the creek (off SW Director just east of the overlook) when volunteer watchers are on duty in the days ahead.
P.S. Clean water is vital to the salmon’s health. Reducing runoff – which ends up in creeks and Puget Sound – is a big step you can take. It’s not too difficult; try these seven simple steps featured at tox-ick.org.
P.P.S. See this year’s first two arriving spawners here.
(Seen at the Fauntleroy Creek overlook late today)
4:53 PM: One dayhttps://westseattleblog.com/ after Judy Pickens sent a reminder of tomorrow’s drumming-the-salmon-home event, with a promise that she’d let us know as soon as there was a Fauntleroy Creek coho sighting, she has an update: “Elizabeth Butler and Chris Kim win the prize for spotting the season’s first spawners near the beach. All this rain, plus 11-foot tides, have brought them in ahead of tomorrow evening’s drumming!”
If you are on the volunteer salmon-watch roster, that means it’s time to sign up for specific shifts. Otherwise, they should be in view soon from the overlook at Fauntleroy and Director (map), across the street from the ferry dock (and up the embankment), where the drumming/singing is set for 5 pm Sunday.
6:32 PM: We stopped by the overlook before dark. It’s not a good viewing spot – lots of overgrowth – but when watchers are on duty, you can walk to the creek from Director St. just east of there. Judy was just there with Dennis Hinton and says that while coho #1 was eaten by a river otter, #2 and #3 were spotted under a bridge on the creek. She adds, “I’ll be spending most of my afternoon tomorrow down at the creek for any folk who wish to visit.”
11:57 PM: Dennis sent photos! Added the one you see above.
(CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE)
FIRST REPORT, 2:24 PM: In, and out, of the sun – the Fauntleroy Fall Festival is on!
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Above, our quick Instagram clip showing some of the decorated cakes awaiting the Cake Walk – you are encouraged to admire them and vote:
Then join in the 3:15 pm walk (for which some not-as-ornate-but-yummy-looking-too cakes are available as well). The cakes are in the Emerald Room (downstairs) at The Hall at Fauntleroy in the historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. Other festival activities are in and around the schoolhouse (including a petting zoo on the west side):
… and Fauntleroy Church / YMCA across the street – look for the tent with pumpkin painting, birdhouse making, and more. Address here is 9131 and 9140 California SW, and the festival’s on until 5 – get here!
2:47 PM UPDATE: Lots of music at the festival – the Epitones Jazz Quartet at the schoolhouse right now:
Elsewhere on the festival grounds, Toni Reineke was in brass mode; you probably know her best for her leadership of what’s now the West Seattle Community Orchestras:
And a festival fave – the Endolyne Children’s Choir:
The official festival schedule shows you the full lineup – including the West Seattle Big Band at 3:45 in The Hall at Fauntleroy’s Emerald Room, inviting you to indulge in a little (or a lot of) swing dancing.
3:42 PM UPDATE: SFD’s Engine 37 is a hit:
It’s parked by the church. That’s also where you might meet royalty:
That’s West Seattle Hi-Yu Junior Court Queen Bianca Carufel.
4:23 PM UPDATE: The festival’s three-hour span goes by so fast – but many have come to enjoy the afternoon:
That includes the indoor crowd for the cakewalk we mentioned earlier:
In the cake-decorating contest, the winning entry was a double-entry by Carolyn Tucker:
In the first-timers’ category, Lindsay Morgan Tracy‘s Frankencake scared up the win:
Still more to show you … as the all-volunteer-produced festival goes into its final half-hour.
5:22 PM: Festival’s over, cleanup’s on. We’ll be adding more photos and video – caught the WS Big Band’s final number …
Some classic rock on the church-parking-lot stage with B Sharp Studio & the 5 Buck Band …
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and also some earnest last-minute birdhouse-making:
The festival was free for visitors, supported by community donations and sponsors like the Fauntleroy Community Association, which is now set up to accept online membership payments (if you’re a local resident/business/organization interested in joining) and festival donations – see the donation button here! (And see many more photos on the festival Facebook page, whose editor Irene Stewart was making the rounds of the festival grounds all afternoon long.)
P.S. Next Sunday afternoon, you’re invited back to Fauntleroy to help drum, sing, and chant to call the salmon home – 5 pm (October 26th) by the Fauntleroy Creek overlook, across from the ferry dock.
The tent is up in the Fauntleroy Church/YMCA parking lot, one of the venues for Sunday afternoon’s Fauntleroy Fall Festival, but if the forecast holds, it might only be needed for sunburn prevention! Festival events will also be happening across the street in and around historic Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, where you can admire the new salmon art by Shawn Bennett in the raingarden out front:
Finding out about home raingardens and cisterns is one thing you can do at the festival – look for the folks from RainWise (WSB sponsor). And here’s the full lineup, as posted on the Fauntleroy Fall Festival website:
Also – it’s not too late to bake a cake to donate to the Cake Walk (details in our previous preview – you have to drop it off tomorrow right BEFORE the festival). See you at 9131 and 9140 California SW (map) 2-5 pm Sunday afternoon for the Fauntleroy Fall Festival!
Ongoing transportation/traffic concerns in Fauntleroy will get an airing in front of city reps including SDOT’s new director in three weeks: Thursday, November 6th, is the time/date just announced by the Fauntleroy Community Association for its long-in-the-works community conversation about issues from speeding to sidewalks to parking, and beyond. FCA president Mike Dey says SDOT director Scott Kubly, DPD director Diane Sugimura, Mayor Murray’s transportation adviser Andrew Glass Hastings, and City Council reps have all confirmed they’ll be there, 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy.
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